April, 2009

Strikeforce may have found their replacement for Kim “Future Ex Mrs.” Couture, and it’s an undefeated fighter who made her willingness to scrap known on the UG. 8-0 Sarah Kaufman said in a forum post that she’d step in to face Miesha Tate while Couture sorted out her personal issues, and Strikeforce may be taking her up on the offer. They acquired her contract in the Pro Elite sale, and though the fight’s right around the corner on May 15 Kaufman has a real opportunity to turn the Couture family’s rumored marital strife into a big payoff for herself so why not? Unlike Kim Couture, she may not have a recognizable name, but she does have more than two fights, so automatically this becomes more of a serious fight with her in it. Those of you wondering what she can do should take a look after the jump.

(This was going to be part of a new tourism campaign for the nation of Japan, but even they thought Okami was too boring.)

It’s not enough that Yushin Okami keeps getting overlooked in the UFC’s middleweight title picture. Now an injury has forced him out his UFC 98 bout with Dan Miller, further pushing him into the land of the also-rans. So who will replace Okami against the larger of the two Miller boys? How about Ed Herman, who absolutely no one brings up when the conversation turns to guys who deserve a shot at Anderson Silva. And the most telling part is, Herman vs. Miller feels like a fight that makes perfect sense.

Behold, Fedor Emelianenko in his finest role, playing himself on a Korean TV show. The situation is pretty obvious. Some guy beats up some other guy in a fight, guy who gets beat up suggests that other guy fight his friend, guy agrees, guy is horrified when the friend turns out to be Fedor. The fact that Fedor happens to be wearing a signature Fedor Emelianenko Affliction t-shirt during the fight scene? Purely coincidental. What, you thought Fedor wore something besides his own Affliction tees in his day-to-day life? Get serious.

I just don’t think anyone has actually tried to fight him up to their ability. Irvin went in and charged him, Leben went in and charged him. He’s a southpaw counter-striker … it’s not like I’m going to go jump his shit. If you rush into that guy you’re rushing into a knockout. So I’m going to fight the guy, I’ll hit him, and not get too frustrated when I miss. Because he makes you miss and then he makes you pay for it.

He’s made a lot of guys feel stupid. It’s when guys get hit, and then they can’t hit him back; they just look hopeless … like they almost want the fight to be over…

Last Night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter treated us to two quarterfinal matches — as well as a total breakdown within Team U.S. and the mysterious disappearance of Michael Bisping. "Wiggity Wack" (the episode’s actual title, according to my DVR) began by showing us just how fractured the Americans were becoming. Jason Dent implores his team to be mature after their first loss in episode 4, and Cameron Dollar basically tells him to stuff it, then tells the team about the 70-80 girls he’s humped, including his friend’s wife. (Hope your friend knew about that before the show, player.) Meanwhile, Team U.S.’s Jason Pierce and Team U.K.’s David Faulkner bond in the hot tub over their shared nerdiness, with Pierce predicting they’ll be friends after the show.

"I stick up for him a lot because we put so much weight on his shoulders because we had to, we needed a face. No, we didn’t expect him to be the world champion. We knew if he fought the kind of fighters that were at that level that his chances of winning were probably slimmer," said Shaw. "But you’ve got to throw somebody up there as the best in the world, because you’ve got to put a face on the company. And that’s not to say he can’t become one of the best fighters in the world, cause he’s an athlete, he has talent, but that was the situation we were up against."